1. Technical Field
The invention relates to optical fiber devices, and more particularly to a sealing body for a cable sleeve for a fiber optic cable.
2. Technical Background
Cable sleeves for the structured deposition or handling of optical fibers in fiber-optic cables are used in fiber-optic cable networks for protecting spliced connections at connecting points of two fiber-optic cables and for protecting fiber-optic cables at branch-off points or at dividing points of fiber-optic cables. In doing so, the cable sleeve must guarantee the continuity of the fiber-optic cables as if the fiber-optic cables were not interrupted. Great importance is attached to the structured deposition and gentle handling of the optical fibers so that the transmission characteristics of the optical fibers are not negatively affected.
A cable sleeve is disclosed in EP 0 646 294 B1 which has a covering body and a sealing body that can be fed into an opening of the covering body, the sealing body comprising a gel-like sealing material, which is arranged between two dimensionally stable plates. The sealing body can be slid in and out in a hollow cavity in the axial direction with respect to the covering body in order to compensate for pressure differences between an internal pressure and an external pressure of the cable sleeve. In doing so, the sealing body comes to rest against different stops depending on this pressure difference.
EP 0 442 941 B1 likewise discloses a cable sleeve with a covering body and a sealing body, which is fed into an opening in the covering body. The sealing body shown in FIGS. 28A, 28B of EP 0 442 941 B1 comprises a gel-like sealing element, which is bordered on two opposite sides by a dimensionally stable end piece in each case. Through the gel-like sealing element there extends a pressure element, which is designed in the form of an adjusting screw, by means of which a force can be exerted on the dimensionally stable end pieces in order to compress the gel-like sealing element and thus to press said sealing element against a cable, which is placed in a cable entry opening of the sealing element, while sealing said sealing element. In order to maintain the sealing function of the gel-like sealing element throughout the whole period of use of the cable sleeve, a compensation element, which is designed in the form of a spring and which is able to compensate for alterations in the material behavior of the gel-like sealing element caused by temperature fluctuations for example, is compressed by the pressure element. If, for example, the gel-like sealing element shrinks at low temperatures more than the remaining components of the sealing body, then the sealing action of the gel-like sealing element can however be maintained in the area of the cable entry opening, as the compensation element, which is designed in the form of a spring, keeps the gel-like sealing element under a sufficient compression force.